UN Chief Warns SDGs Only 35% on Track with Five Years to Go

By: TPA News Desk – Health | editor@thepointafricanews.com

The United Nations has issued a stark warning that with only five years remaining before the 2030 deadline, just 35 percent of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are being met or are progressing adequately, leaving the majority lagging behind.

At the launch of the 2025 SDG Progress Report, Secretary-General António Guterres described the global development status as “alarming,” emphasizing that nearly two-thirds of targets are either developing too slowly or outright failing—18 percent are sliding backward and 48 percent show insufficient movement. Guterres detailed how more than 800 million people still endure extreme poverty, worsening climate impacts, and spiraling debt hardships that strain the ability to invest in people.

Despite those challenges, the report did find important progress, noting improved access to education, electricity, clean cooking, and the internet; expanded social protection to more than half of the global population; a surge in renewable energy capacity; increased female representation in government and business; and substantial health advances. Efforts to combat malaria have saved an estimated 12.7 million lives since 2000, while countries also made headway in reducing child marriage, maternal mortality, and HIV infections.

Guterres cautioned that these gains remain fragile. The “Sustainable Development Goals Report 2025” highlights that global growth in recent years—beset by pandemics, conflict, climate, and inflation—has left progress uneven and unstable. He called for urgent reform of the international financial architecture, including debt transparency, development bank capacity expansions, and affordable credit for developing nations, to raise $4 trillion annually needed to close the funding gap.

Guterres described the situation as a “development emergency” and said achieving the SDGs would require acting with “urgency, unity, and unwavering resolve”. The report underscored that progress depends not only on national efforts but also on revitalized global solidarity, especially in helping Africa overcome chronic institutional and financial barriers.

With the UN’s SDG Summit scheduled for September 2025, member states are expected to present revised national strategies and financing frameworks to get back on track.